A convincing consensus of opinion opposed to fracking has now been expressed to the expert panel reviewing the industry's potential in Nova Scotia. The panel is led by Cape Breton University president David Wheeler.

As reported in the Cape Breton Post, approximately 92 per cent of the 238 people who made submissions acknowledged to have been received by Wheeler indicated their preference either for a ban on hydraulic fracturing in the province or a continuation of the present moratorium.

But there were actually 507 additional submissions sent as a form letter generated by the Council of Canadians. These were not raised by Wheeler in the various presentations until the audience brought them up. So, 745 submissions make for a much stronger reflection of public concern than the 238 referenced by the panel's chair.

The "information sessions" on fracking held across the province drew a groundswell of negative views on the practice. Jennifer West, speaking for the Halifax-based Ecology Action Centre, noted how strong the opposition was: "(Wheeler) was not prepared for how vehemently opposed the communities would be to fracking.

After the panel’s session in Halifax last week, Wheeler said he had concluded "at this point it would not be sensible for this province to proceed” with fracking.

What is interesting about those remarks at this stage is that the panel's final report has not yet been delivered to the provincial government. While Wheeler indicated he would not recommend continuing the two-year moratorium on fracking in Nova Scotia, he said we need to keep looking at the issue.

What Wheeler means concerning the moratorium is not clear. The final report may address these apparent contradictions more directly. There will continue to be pressure brought forward by concerned interests to extend the moratorium for at least a decade.

The most common theme expressed in the submissions was the need to protect water from fracking. That represents a much larger sample of Nova Scotia's population with the same concern. The best measure of that opinion would be by way of a provincial plebiscite or referendum on fracking. But the panel is unlikely to recommend my idea to the government.

The review process has been criticized, and not only for how the panel members were recruited. The presentations themselves came to be viewed collectively as a "sham." The panel's final report is expected to be completed later this summer.

In order to prepare the province for anticipated private-sector access and usage of water, the government needs to enhance the current Water Resources Protection Act with new and forceful private-sector sanctions. This act and others have historically failed to prevent water scarcity and pollution, and to ensure that there is enough uncontaminated water to satisfy economic, environmental and health needs.

Furthermore, these acts do not provide for fair return for using this publicly owned resource. New legislation should give notice that water is vested in the Crown and that it should be managed solely in the public interest.

The provincial government should proclaim what is called "the public trust doctrine," which explicitly declares that water is owned by the public and must be managed on behalf of the public as a human right. Private and corporate rights should be subordinate to the public interest at all times.

In other constituencies, regulations and oversight alone have not been able to prevent water and air contamination which threatens communities and other industries. Referring to Lethbridge, Alta., for example, this year's March-April edition of the Watershed Sentinel magazine reported that water toxins used in the extraction of fracked gas from upstream wells were found in the tap water of local communities, including the Blood Tribe reserve.

Above ground, there are also dangers associated with the transportation of highly flammable gas. Risks in transporting flammable products were dramatically illustrated by the lethal train disaster at Lac-Megantic, Que.

Beyond Nova Scotia, fracking is widely recognized as especially dangerous to water resources. It has been banned or has been subject to a moratorium in so many other countries, including Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Luxembourg and South Africa, not to mention resource-rich Newfoundland, and urban municipalities such as Hamilton, Ont., Lethbridge, Pittsburgh and Denver.

Alberta has become the fracking capital of Canada, with more than 171,000 wells drilled since the 1950s. But British Columbia currently hosts the world's largest “frack,” with nearly 1,100 wells approved.

With his recent remarks, Wheeler jumped ahead of himself, his panel and his report's due date. But he rightfully concluded that many questions remain unanswered. So the government should not be advised in this report to permit fracking anywhere in Nova Scotia.

Jim Guy, PhD, is professor emeritus of political science and international law at Cape Breton University.

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Evan DeGiobbi

August 06, 2014 - 06:30

ya most retired oldler people don't want it here as it comes with buiser roads heavy construction . they did mind the steal plant and all the coal mines that made our land toxic and polluted ask there younger people that spend 9 months a year away from our kids so they can have nice house andf nice thing what is it that you want all of us to move to alberta so that they can tax the older people in to their grave or goverement housing WE WANT FRACKING IT WILL BRING INFASTRUCTER AND JOBS. its not 1978 fracking came a long way I bet you ask the people that it matters too not the people on pension that don't even see what is coming to them, but higher taxes and government housing cause they wont afford there house. to all the polititions that are against it you are having your cake and eating it too as us younger people fly to alberta send home our tax dollars to feed your familys and foolish studys like a ferry from wstmount to sydeny lets lay off 75% of you people. in Ontario there is only one mla for 200,000 people what do we have in cbrm too many if ya ask me burden on the tax payers so here to your faracking bring it on cause its coming any way once they move the majority of us youth out on cape Breton and there there aint no one to fight and who gonna profit the greedy government andf us younger generation will loose out because we will all be gone so keep pushing how bad it is fire half the politions or make them live on 6 month wage and pogy for 6 months see how they like it !!! let start fracking tomorrow !!!!!!!!!

I fully agree with slumberjack. Big Oil will get their way one way or another. If the laws are against their agenda they will just change them. Harper has sold this country out to the rich a-holes who own and control everything. Its too bad most people think and do what the government tells them. They are so caught up in their pursuits of material possessions they dont realize our land is being destroyed and we are being poisoned for the profit of industry. Wake up people!

Eventually communities and citizens will be forced to come to terms with the fact that what they think about resource extraction matters not one iota. This is the result of all the fine print contained within our international trade agreements that the corporations practically wrote up, and our politicians have signed off on. A village in Quebec is currently facing a lawsuit from an oil company for having enacted a municipal bylaw banning exploratory drilling near the village's water supply. The amount of the lawsuit is apparently in the millions, far greater than their annual operating budget. They are having to crowd source to raise legal defence funds to protect their drinking water, because politicians have given these corporations legal standing to do so within the various international trade agreements they've bound us to behind everyone’s back. Residents of Pictou are being asphyxiated and poisoned while they breathe, and while the residents of Inverness County may have won a battle against Wall Street fracking interests, it only amounts to temporary reprieve because there is an entire war in the interests of profit underway that will ultimately poison everyone where they live if they happen to reside near anything of value beneath their feet.

Slumberjack, you have certainly hit the nail on the head as they say. Democracy has been completely changed to protect the interests of the 1% . Our governments, federal and provincial, are not standing for us, the people who voted them in, and whose health and concerns they are supposed to be protecting. Is there any way we can bring true democracy back? The voting system of 1st past the post must be changed to proportional representation. Then we may have some dissenting voices in governments, voices who will try to make change.